Clunes Football Netball Club has been taken to court by former coach Dale Cowell.
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In a civil claim, Cowell is suing the Magpies for damages associated with the termination of a five-year contract he signed when appointed to the helm ahead of the 2016 season.
The non-playing senior leader, who arrived as a replacement to former joint-coaches Jason Hill and Michael McKenzie following the 2015 campaign, was in charge for just a handful of games this year before parting ways with the Central Highlands Football League club.
Cowell’s legal representative Dean Cinque, from Cinque Oakley Senior Lawyers, said his client received some payment from the Magpies before being dismissed from the role.
Cinque said as a result of the termination, Cowell’s future as a coach was in jeopardy and described the value of the claim as “not an insignificant amount”.
Cinque said Cowell’s contract was broken and tried to explain the situation by removing it from a football club environment.
“If you have five-year employment contract with someone and after six months or so they decide you are not working out and let you go, then you’ve got a five-year contract that hasn’t been honoured and that’s the claim,” he said.
Cinque said discussions had previously taken place between his firm and lawyers representing the Clunes Football Netball Club, but no resolution was able to be reached.
Two Magpies committee members were approached by The Courier on Friday and either did not return calls or declined to comment on the matter.
